Review & Video : Pioneer DDJ-WeGO DJ Controller

Review Summary:

This isn't the cheapest DJ controller that can do this beginner / consumer stuff, but it's one of the best. It's designed well, there's plenty of thought that's gone into making it fun and useful at the same times, and the way the effects, cue and sampler controls have been skewed towards being easy to perform on will make it appealing to beginners. Overall, if you're in the market for a beginner controller, and you can afford to pay just a little more than rock bottom, the Pioneer should be on your list. It's one of the best beginner controllers we've tested to date.

The Pioneer DDJ-WeGO is unashamedly a controller for beginners and the 'just for fun' crowd, but it's a serious contender at this price point, as we find out...

Review: Pioneer DDJ-WeGO DJ Controller

The Pioneer DDJ-WeGO is a small, entry-level DJ controller, aimed squarely at consumers and those who are wanting to learn to DJ. It comes in a number of colours, and you can even adjust the colours of the software skin and the jogwheels on the controller too! But this isn't all style, no substance; the Pioneer DDJ-WeGO is, as it turns out, a serious contender at its market price point. It has everything you need to learn to DJ, in small, affordable and stylish package. Let's review it in depth...

First impressions & setting up

It's small, but chunky and nicely made, with a decent amount of weight to it. The black model I had appeared pretty sober before being plugged in, but of course with a number of bright coloured cases available, the choice is yours. Once plugged in, there's a colour show from the jogwheels for you anyway. The DDJ-WeGo has an all-plastic casing, which is rounded on the front two corners, and it is "wedge" shaped, rising quite a lot at the back to angle the controls towards the user.

Unusually, there are no sockets, switches or anything else on either the front or the back - the USB, on/off switch and headphones sockets (1/8" and 1/4" TRS) are on the left-hand side of the unit, and the master out (2 x RCAs), Mic (1/4" TRS) and Kensington lock hole are on the right-hand side. The decently sized (relatively) jogwheels are polished brushed metal with plastic rims, and are surrounded in a circular design by the transport controls, cue buttons and effects/sampler buttons - more on these later.

Unusually, the Pioneer DDJ-WeGO has its inputs and outputs on the sides, not the front and back.

All the faders are small, with the tempo faders being the longest, and the short crossfader slightly looser than the two upfaders. There are hi, mid and lo EQs (but no gain controls), a push encoder for library browsing, and buttons for loading (on up to four software decks) and headphone cueing.

Across the top are controls for auto-looping, headphones (cue/master and volume), microphone volume and master volume. Of corse there are sync buttons, but note that there's also a shift button to double up functions - good as of course the overall number of controls is limited, it being such a small device.

To set it up, you install what's needed from the Pioneer CD provided - there's a driver needed for PC, but not needed for Mac. The Virtual DJ LE software is installed next, and the serial number for the software is on a sticker on the bottom of the unit. All the audio settings are done for you, so it's plug and play. A good start.

In use

The unit is fun to DJ on. It's got responsive jogwheels, a pretty generous four cue points across the bottom per deck (and actually as mentioned, it's got four software decks too, although controlling them with such few controls is a bit tricky - I predict most people will stick to two).

The FX section has three effects chosen by you from the rather limited variety in Virtual DJ LE, and you can control the parameter or parameters of your chosen effect using the jogwheel. You can have more than one effect going at once, and there's a key change and a filter that are both controlled in the same manner as well. Using the jogwheel for these things is a neat idea given the size of the controller.

The software is skinned to match, and you can even alter its colours to suit the colour of the unit you bought and the jogwheel coloured lights you've got selected!

There's a sampler, which you turn on by pressing the small "sample" button next to the four cue buttons; you then have control over some of Virtual DJ's sample slots, and it comes with a few beats and a siren (good old Virtual DJ siren!) ready loaded, although of course you can add your own. The EQs kill properly (ie turn all the EQs down and the music disappears), but on the downside while we're talking about the mixer, there are no gain controls. Virtual DJ has auto gain so it's not the end of the world. The VU meters are split, one for each side, so you can check you're not driving too hard despite auto gain hopefully negating the need to.

Of course you're not going to want to perform scratch moves on such a device and the crossfader isn't really up to that, but it's reasonably loose nonetheless, and indeed all controls feel solid enough. I especially liked the rubberised knobs - something Pioneer doesn't even sometimes do on more expensive gear.

The control layout is actually smart considering the space on offer, making it fun to perform on.

There's rudimentary looping including auto loop, and the usual controls for headphone volume and mix, and master volume, and of course there is the obligatory browse knob for selecting tunes form your library (and the even more obligatory "sync" buttons!), but really, that's about it. It doesn't boast professional sound spec but for the target market is sounds fine, and wouldn't be out of place at the kind of house parties and small venues where you'd be most likely to see a DJ with one of these rolling up.

Conclusion

This isn't the cheapest DJ controller that can do this beginner / consumer stuff, but it's one of the best. It's designed well, there's plenty of thought that's gone into making it fun and useful at the same times, and the way the effects, cue and sampler controls have been skewed towards being easy to perform on will make it appealing to beginners wanting to add a bit of sparkle to their sets using some of these functions.

I liked the layout, and actually found the fact that you can colour coordinate the lights in the unit itself with a corresponding skin on the software to be pleasing. And why not? We all choose our smartphone wallpaper, why not do the same with your DJ controller?

I'll take that in purple please! And why not? It's about fun at this price point, after all, as much as anything else.

The software may be LE ("light edition"), but it does the job, and crucially it lets you record your set, which much LE software doesn't. If you're looking for great sounding effects and lots of bells and whistles then it isn't for you and you'll be looking at a software upgrade for sure, but for basic DJing - even across four decks - it's fine.

At the price, there isn't much to fault this. You can't see what your second FX parameter is doing (if anything) when you alter it using a combination of the shift key and jogwheel, as there isn't any visual display of this in the software, and I'd have liked to have seen gain controls - but these are niggles.

Overall, if you're in the market for a beginner controller, and you can afford to pay just a little more than rock bottom, the Pioneer should be on your list. It's one of the best beginner controllers we've tested to date.

Product Summary

Review Summary:

This isn't the cheapest DJ controller that can do this beginner / consumer stuff, but it's one of the best. It's designed well, there's plenty of thought that's gone into making it fun and useful at the same times, and the way the effects, cue and sampler controls have been skewed towards being easy to perform on will make it appealing to beginners. Overall, if you're in the market for a beginner controller, and you can afford to pay just a little more than rock bottom, the Pioneer should be on your list. It's one of the best beginner controllers we've tested to date.

I can’t test it in a club against pro gear, we just test in on our monitors here so I’m not going to pretend we can answer otherwise. Plainly at this price you won’t get pro quality, but for this audience it’s fine. Remember Virtual DJ LE adds its own colour to the sound. Output level is equivalent to other USB controllers, if it felt too low we’d tell you

I am looking to buy my first controller and I am looking at the wego among others, some of of your writers have posted that this is a toy and I should look to a reloop or mixtrack pro. You seem to like this one. My qeastion is am I losing out on some features ect if I bought the wego over a reloop?

I like the size of the size of the wego and that it works with djay. But will I out grow the controller quicker then a reloop or some other device in this price range? My max is $400 and under.

Please help me clear my head Phil.

Thanks so much Justin.
Ps: just bought your dj course and I am on video 3 and loving it.

Add 90€ and get a Denon MC3000 (not 2000). Built like a tank, very compact (heavy though). Great sound and controls. Basic standalone mixing abilities. Love mine and would advise others not to start with anything below that quality.

The Denon device is better built and has more controls, but is more traditional in layout and function. It also takes you down the Serato route, whereas this is for Virtual DJ. If you’re a “dabbler”, and want something that looks good and is most fun to use out of the box, go for the WeGO. If you see yourself quite quickly developing the hobby into something more, go for the Denon.

I currently have an X-Session Pro, and I’ve learned how to, cue, mix, loop and control on that. I’ve been searching for an upgrade something I can take to a lounge or a small party. (I’ve DJ’d 2 small parties with my XSP both times went well)

I was wondering if I can use this in conjunction with my XSP so I have more knobs and buttons to play with (no gain control kinda worries me)? I’ve been looking into this controller or the Mixtrack Pro, but I’m hearing so-so things about the Mixtrack Pro’s buttons.

I need to ask a question. I want to get into djing so that would probably just be in my house and at small family and friends parties. I’m a teenager so cash is always tight and I want to know if this is a good starting controller. Virtual DJ look good and seems like something I can get into but I don’t know if by getting this controller it will make it harder to upgrade to something else due to its layout. Also I don’t know if this is even a good comparison but I’ve been looking at the stanton djc 4. So which would you choose.
thanks,
Adam

Good point. Any budget controller will tie you down a bit. If funds are tight, look at the Mixtrack Pro. It comes with Serato Dj Intro, and is unbeatable for the price. This controller is great fun and if you want to stick with Virtual DJ it can grow a bit with you if you upgrade to Pro, but you say you’re tight on cash, so I assume the price difference will matter to you.

So you’re saying you think it’s worth it to buy a cheap controller and replace it later versus saving up for a pro model controller while using your laptop keyboard and mouse? I think it’s better to save up to get a pro controller.

In most cases, yes. I think if you can drop the minimum possible to learn, by the time it’s ready for a “pro” model you’ll know the software and hardware you want and be able to make an informed decision. DJing doesn’t require much – you can even learn on just a laptop, and I encourage that too.

I’m assuming you mean DJ Player on iPad which allows you to do midi mapping? The djay app by Algoriddim will only recognise those controllers that have a predefined mapping file associated with it – stored within the app.

If we’re talking about DJ Player, then all that needs is the midi device to be USB class compliant – because you don’t need to install drivers on the Mac, then it is possible that this could work with iOS.

You’re right. djay wouldn’t recognize it unless if it is pre-mapped by algoriddim. That’s easy to achieve, if the two companies wish so. Pity there’s no power-in option, but a powered hub is a legit path too.

Being class compliant for OS X should be a logical assumption that it’ll be recognized by iOS too. Makes sense.

I have the WeGo as I’m just starting out, just wanted to ask about the C & D decks. I can only get sound from these decks through the headphones and not the speakers, and can’t see any settings to change. I assumed you could play all decks through speakers.
Is there something wrong here or is this how it is on this controller?

Have you pressed the ‘c’ and ‘d’ lite up in orange buttons after you turned on the 2/4 deck button on screen? when the 2/4 deck is pressed the rest of decks are added then on controller to get playback then on controller press either the ‘c’ deck button to load track and it will play back or ‘d’ button for the 3rd or 4th deck. I have playback on mine.

Great review sir i would be wondering what would you recommend for a beginner “Pioneer DDJ wego” or “Mixvibes U-Mix control Pro” confused between both and need to know whihc has better sound effects with quality

Can you record your mixes from this unit? I have the mixdeck pro and can not record my mixes becuase of the mixer being analog. It does record but wont record the crossfader from left to right. Also can you record your mixes with the denon mc2000?

Pioneer released a TSI for traktor and its integration is perfect. Not only does the controller get mapped, the GUI is optimized to be used with this controller. It allows you to use two track decks and two sample deck. The sample decks are controlled by the volume faders. You can even use the jog wheels to nudge the samples to keep
Them synced with decks a and b. the sample decks can also be eq’ed and filtered like track decks. The effects even work pretty well.

Hey phil im a begginer at this Dj buisness and a fan of pioneer sound. I wanted to know if this (as a first controler) could be a good choice for starting to dj at stuff like private clubs/parties, fashion shows, or just plug in to the biggest set of speakers i can find? I noticed there are only two inputs for RCA so thats why im asking.
Thanks

Hi Phil, love your videos. I brought the wego jus before xmas and im having great fun with it. Took your advice from one off your videos and started to play regular gigs at my gym. Best way to progress, as i want to play at bars clubs in the near future. Quick question, when i eventually upgrade to a pro set, was thinking ddj T1,S2 or Ergo? What would you recomment for me if i want to play at clubs?

I have a Numark Total Control. I want to upgrade to something a bit… Well, less Total Controlish. Is the Wego a smart choice? Or should I go up to the Ergo? Or, something completely different? I’ve been performing at big events and I’m tired of getting the “Oh God, that’s what you use?” looks.

Was going to upgrade to another controller but took your advice and im going to keep the wego. I would highly recommend mapping the wego to traktor pro 2.6, was fun on virtual dj le but now ive mapped it to traktor, my god! Fx, sample decks etc. Its takes the wego upto another level. My sets sound so much better, cleaner, transitions smooth, cant get enough of it. Thanks for the advice keep up the good work phil

There isn’t ant gain on the wego but is there a gain on the virtual dj software? As well as setting the high and low points for the fx (flanger,etc). Can that be done on the software.
Other questions I hv is towards the crossfader and tempo keylocks. Is it durable for scratching and where do u ajust the performance of it? Is there a keylock button on the software or the equipment?

Hi there. I have the beringer BCD3000 and am wanting to move on. I am planning on getting the DDJ-SX in about a year, but was thinking about getting the WeGo and using Serato in the mean time….just to get used to the software. Do you think this is a good idea, or would you go with something else? Thanx for you help and great reviews.

I’m looking for a compact, easy to transport controller, so DDJ-WeGO appears to be perfect – I don’t need a lot of crazy resources like the big controllers offers. But, I think I’ll dj to 400 people parties.

I’m thinking about using WeGO with Traktor Pro and a Scarlett 2i4 to have balanced audio outputs.

I’m not very experienced, but some friends are alerting me about better sound quality with big sound systems.
Nway, the main question is the controller’s size: need to be compact. And WeGO is, and it’s fun to play, right? Is there another compact good option?

Its wonderful for any dj with skills and cuz of its portability which is what they went for on this model.So much easier to perform for new clients and Its usb powered. I use it for my radio show so its comfortable and familiar. Dont be scared to get this its good and fun and a nice one for anyone beginer or pro.

Is the Mic input routed through the software? When you recorded your radio show did you just use the mic input on the WeGo and record everything internally? On some of these controllers the mic is routed to the master out and you can’t record vocals over an internally recorded mix. Any info is much appreciated.

Got pioneer ddj wego.. It works with virtual dj pro 7.2 Mbpro . No problem at all… But when I tried connecting with ipad 2 using the wecai cable from pioneer… It doesn’t work….it says USB device does need a lot of power…it doesn’t communicate with ddj wego..

Hey, I am looking to get a controller for the djay algoriddim app since I truly life it way more than the traktor app. I was forced to get the traktor z1 controller because the sound quality is awesome so I am now trying to have the same quality while using the djay app. How is the WEGO sound quality compared to traktor? Does it use a 24-bit sound card? please help.

Hey. Couple Of questions here.
I have djay algorithm 2 on my iPhone 4S. Running ios7.
I am looking for a controller that will allow synchronision between the two.
A) will the wego work with the iphone4s
B) will the wego2 work with iPhone 4S with lightening adapter.
Thanks
E

Hi I want to get a controller it will be my first. I’ve mixed just with my laptop and a mixer but i want to take it to the next step. I am comparing 3 units. The ddj wego , mix track pro ll ., and cmd studio 4a. Which one would you recommend?

Too much info/choice…. AM upgrading from vinyl with Numark mixer (been a while) – to Latop/controler. Have been asked to do a Rollerdisco soon, so need a controller that will be ok in a larger venue? Will the wego be ok, or should I go up the range a bit? any suggestions welcome.

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